Nine players have yet to lose a game after the third round of the European Championship in Gjakova. This set of competitors includes Baadur Jobava, who the previous day had stayed true to his original style and deliberately adopted a somewhat worse position against Samvel Ter-Sahakyan, provoking the Armenian GM to charge forward with reckless abandon, for which he was duly punished.

A similar approach was taken in round three by Vitaly Kunin, playing under the German flag. However, his opponent, David Navara, preferred to methodically crank up the pressure than dive into an all-out attack, which led to the following position:

NAVARA - KUNIN

23.Bb5!! It’s well known that the queen is a poor blocker. If we look at defence as a whole (the blockade is just one example), it’s better as a rule to employ a minor piece, leaving the stronger pieces for attacking duties.
In order to chase away the enemy queen the knight needs to occupy е4.23...a6 24.Bxd7 Nxd7 25.Ne4 Mission accomplished – the path for the passed pawn has been cleared.25...Qf8 26.Qh3 f5 27.d6 Qf7 28.Be7 h6 29.Nc5! White eliminates the final barrier of the enemy blockade.29...Nxc5 30.bxc5 Any further advance of the central pawn will lead to immense danger for Black, so he is forced to sacrifice the exchange to capture the pawn. In another position this might not be such a big loss, but here the Black bishop is far less useful than the White rook.
The Czech grandmaster finished off the game demonstrating his strong technique.30...Rxe7 31.dxe7 Qxe7 32.Rd6 Kh7 33.Qe3 Qf7 34.Qd3 Rxc5 35.Rd7 Qf6 36.Rxb7 e4 37.Qb1 Re5 38.a4 h5 39.Rd1 Re7 40.Rxe7 Qxe7 41.Qb6 f4 42.Qxa6 f3 43.Qb5 fxg2 44.Rd7 Qf6 45.Qb7 1-0

The next two examples demonstrate that in different positions the attack can be prosecuted in quite different ways, but with the same outcome.

VALLEJO - PALAC

Francisco has played a beautiful game up to now and he finishes it off with an elegant tactic:24.d6!! Bxd6 (24...Qxd6 25.Rxh8 Rxh8 26.Bxb5 is also useless) 25.Rxf6 Qe7 26.Qe4! (converting his material advantage into a mating attack) 26...Qxf6 27.Qc6+ Kb8 28.Be4 1-0

IPATOV - BRKIC

26...b4? Not an obvious mistake. But the correct defence was even harder to find – 26...c3!! Now 27.Qf6+!? Kg8 28.Rxc3 c4 or 28...Rb7 leads to an unclear position. Another alternative, 27.bxc3, leads to a draw: 27...Ra8 28.Re7 b4 29.h4 b3 30.h5 Ra2+ (30...Qa6 31.f6 Qe2+ 32.Kh3 Rg8 33.Rxf7 Qe4 34.Rg7 Qb1 is also fine) 31.Kg1 (31.Kh3?? loses to …Ra6!) 31...b2 32.Qf6+ Kg8 33.Qg5+ with perpetual check.27.h4!! Bringing the humble rook’s pawn into play proves decisive. Instead, 27.f6?? Qg4 is a weak continuation, with White’s attack going nowhere.27...Qe8?! His last chance was to play 27...c3!? 28.h5! (28.Qf6+ Kg8 29.h5?? is useless due to 29…Qd8!) 28...Qd8, but after 29.Rd7!! Qxd7 30.Qf6+ Kg8 31.h6 the Black king is nevertheless caught in a mating web.28.h5 Black resigned, unable to find an acceptable way to defend against the threat of mate after 29.Qf6+ and 30.h6; if 28...Qd8 then 29.f6 is decisive. 1-0 (Commentary by Alexei Yarovinsky)

Daniil Dubov tortured Kaido Kulaots a pawn up in a rook and opposite-coloured bishops endgame, while Denis Khismatullin had a bad taste in his mouth after missing a drawing tactic in his rook ending against Ernesto Inarkiev. Two games are of theoretical interest: Nikita Vitiugov’s win against Zbynek Hracek in the Modern Benoni, and Daniele Vocaturo’s victory over Kacper Piorun in the Anti-Grunfeld System.

Смотрите также...

We have already commented twice on Aleksey Goganov’s successes in Gjakova. Let’s now take a close look at his latest victory, following which Aleksey finds himself hot on the heels of the tournament leader.

Going into the fourth round of the European Championship in Gjakova two Georgian GMs were among the competitors yet to lose a game: that country’s undisputed number one Baadur Jobava and the experienced Zurab Sturua, who has been one of the top players on the veterans circuit in recent years. But last night their paths diverged. For how long, though?

The second round of the European Championship in Gjakova saw a number of fierce battles. The only exceptions were a few games between compatriots that ended in harmless draws: between the Czech players Hracek and Navara, and between Belarusians Stupak and Zhigalko.

With two rounds to go in the European Championship at Kosovo Ernesto Inarkiev is firmly in pole position. However, the battle is not only about first place. The players are also competing for invitations to the World Cup (the first 23 participants get a ticket) as well as for cash (22 main prizes plus 10 additional prizes). Not to mention the creative aspect, which as usual is the focus of our commentator Alexei Yarovinsky, who reflects on several fragments from round 9 below.

The self-declared Republic of Kosovo is host to the European Chess Championship that kicked off on Thursday. The competition sees a fair mix of strong grandmasters and many amateurs. In fact too many: we have the impression that such a large number of unrated or lowly-rated local players has never competed in such a tournament.